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European River Cruises

Holiday Ideas & Foreign Travel
mc2fool
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European River Cruises

#371381

Postby mc2fool » December 30th, 2020, 6:22 pm

From viewtopic.php?p=371244#p371262

Arborbridge wrote:I have a European holiday booked in April. Originally river cruise booked for September 2018, due to drought postponed to October 2019 then postponed due to an operation until April 2020, then cancelled due to covid and rebooked for April 2021!

Postponed due to drought? The river dried up?!? :o Not a Rhine cruise then ... :D

Anyway, a European rivers cruise is something I've been thinking of for a while, and just wondering if you had any recommendations, both for itineraries and for companies.

Or is yours a Tar's DIY holiday and you're taking your own boat over ... ?

Arborbridge
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Re: European River Cruises

#371400

Postby Arborbridge » December 30th, 2020, 7:07 pm

mc2fool wrote:From viewtopic.php?p=371244#p371262

Arborbridge wrote:I have a European holiday booked in April. Originally river cruise booked for September 2018, due to drought postponed to October 2019 then postponed due to an operation until April 2020, then cancelled due to covid and rebooked for April 2021!

Postponed due to drought? The river dried up?!? :o Not a Rhine cruise then ... :D

Anyway, a European rivers cruise is something I've been thinking of for a while, and just wondering if you had any recommendations, both for itineraries and for companies.

Or is yours a Tar's DIY holiday and you're taking your own boat over ... ?


Well, actually it was the Rhine! We had already been up the Danube from Budapest and enjoyed it, so thought we would then travel Amsterdam to Basel. However, two days before leaving we had an email to report that water levels beyond a certain point were so low that they were stopping there. Continuation travel would be arranged by "luxury" coach to complete to trip to Basel. The coaches are actually quite good, but it wasn't what I paid for, so agreed to take the trip the following October when I hoped that we wouldn't have another very dry summer.

Then I had my prostate operation, a operation date at very short notice, on 24th September in 2019. They let me take a full credit less air fares as we were so close to the leaving date. I thought that was fair. I didn't think I would gamble on being fit enough after the operation - it was a complete unknown - but as it turned out I was perfectly fit enough in ten days. But too late to get back on the trip.

However, what you really want to know is who I travelled with and were they any good. The company was Scenic and they have major adverts in most of the papers. I have only done this sort of cruise with them so I have nothing to compare with, however, they were very obliging, everything was as promised and the standard was excellent. My first impression was that this sort of holiday was "too old" for me - there were many people late 70's or 80's and I must have been one of the youngest. But these people, far from being inactive, joined in all of the activities (though rather few on the 30km electric bike ride) and were full of interesting conversation. Now I'm 75, I'm nearer the right age!

The cruise was marketed as a music cruise, so we had a couple of treats laid on. For three days in the evening a string quartet playing Beethoven and Mozart. A well known music critic giving reminiscences whom I later met at Wigmore Hall. A stay for a day and a night in Vienna, including a concert put on for us ( a bit on the light classical side for me, but enjoyable and fun), and a trip to the Mozart House in Salzburg.

For other - more active - choices, I can only say that I found a trip to Antarctica very enjoyable - holiday of a lifetime, in fact. And much cheaper, a Northern Lights cruise up the coast of Norway with Hurtigruten - another company I have much praise for.

I hope that's enough for now to encourage you - I very happy to give more information if you need it.

Arb.

mc2fool
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Re: European River Cruises

#371630

Postby mc2fool » December 31st, 2020, 12:40 pm

Many thanks for the reply Arb. :D

A few surprises in there ... like a Danube cruise going to Mozart's house. Must have been a 2 hour each way coach trip, surely? The Danube doesn't go near Salzburg and IIRC the river that does run through it isn't suitable for bigger boats. I guess I'm not so surprised at the age demographic, although I was hoping for more of a mix. Being just about to reach state pension age it sounds like I'd be one of the youngest too!

So you started in Budapest, where did you end up and how many days/nights was it? BTW, I knew a bunch of boating folks (live aboard 30ft yacht types) some 25-30 years ago and I remember them being excited 'cos a canal linking the Rhine and the Danube has just been opened, making it possible to go from the North Sea to the Black Sea through Europe. On a quick google I see there's some cruises that (almost) do that.

Arborbridge wrote: I can only say that I found a trip to Antarctica very enjoyable - holiday of a lifetime, in fact.

Antarctica! Well that's got to be worth a thread of it's own, do let me encourage you! :D

I lived in New Zealand for a year in 78/79 and Air New Zealand used to have Antarctica sightseeing flights that would take off from NZ and go and fly around bits of Antarctica and then return (without landing there). They were expensive but I was seriously considering taking one, but in the end I never did, mostly due to just not getting my act together in time. Then a few months after I left NZ ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Erebus_disaster :shock:

Arborbridge wrote:a Northern Lights cruise up the coast of Norway with Hurtigruten - another company I have much praise for.

Aha! Fjords and northern lights, two things that have also been on my should-see list! Tell me more please!

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Re: European River Cruises

#371657

Postby bluedonkey » December 31st, 2020, 1:49 pm

Browsing Youtube several months ago, I came across this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/user/tipsfortravellers
Although I don't really plan on doing any cruises, I found his advice interesting and I imagine it would have been useful if I did plan on going on a cruise. Interested to hear whether the experienced cruisers (is that the right word?) agree. Perhaps I'm just easily impressed!

mc2fool
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Re: European River Cruises

#536963

Postby mc2fool » October 13th, 2022, 11:27 am

Arborbridge wrote:
mc2fool wrote:From viewtopic.php?p=371244#p371262
Arborbridge wrote:I have a European holiday booked in April. Originally river cruise booked for September 2018, due to drought postponed to October 2019 then postponed due to an operation until April 2020, then cancelled due to covid and rebooked for April 2021!

Postponed due to drought? The river dried up?!? :o Not a Rhine cruise then ... :D

Well, actually it was the Rhine! We had already been up the Danube from Budapest and enjoyed it, so thought we would then travel Amsterdam to Basel. However, two days before leaving we had an email to report that water levels beyond a certain point were so low that they were stopping there. Continuation travel would be arranged by "luxury" coach to complete to trip to Basel. The coaches are actually quite good, but it wasn't what I paid for, so agreed to take the trip the following October when I hoped that we wouldn't have another very dry summer.

Noted from another thread ...

Arborbridge wrote:On a tangential point: I have just arrived back from a cruise down the Rhine.

So, finally your much postponed cruise? But with an even dryer summer this year, where did your cruise go (and where was it supposed to go)?

Arborbridge
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Re: European River Cruises

#536968

Postby Arborbridge » October 13th, 2022, 11:58 am

mc2fool wrote:
Arborbridge wrote:
mc2fool wrote:From viewtopic.php?p=371244#p371262
Arborbridge wrote:I have a European holiday booked in April. Originally river cruise booked for September 2018, due to drought postponed to October 2019 then postponed due to an operation until April 2020, then cancelled due to covid and rebooked for April 2021!

Postponed due to drought? The river dried up?!? :o Not a Rhine cruise then ... :D

Well, actually it was the Rhine! We had already been up the Danube from Budapest and enjoyed it, so thought we would then travel Amsterdam to Basel. However, two days before leaving we had an email to report that water levels beyond a certain point were so low that they were stopping there. Continuation travel would be arranged by "luxury" coach to complete to trip to Basel. The coaches are actually quite good, but it wasn't what I paid for, so agreed to take the trip the following October when I hoped that we wouldn't have another very dry summer.

Noted from another thread ...

Arborbridge wrote:On a tangential point: I have just arrived back from a cruise down the Rhine.

So, finally your much postponed cruise? But with an even dryer summer this year, where did your cruise go (and where was it supposed to go)?



Aha! Well spotted (on the ball as usual). We were fortunate in that the whole cruise was possible - indeed, I believe it was the first one this year which had no interruption due to low water. The section they had been unable to float through was the Rhine gorge, the most spectacular part - but I'm told they had some very heavy rain in the past month. Judging by the banks, the water levels were pretty much "median". The Rhine gorge, BTW was on a cold foggy day, so we missed a lot of views, but I reckon what we missed was made up for by some atmospheric pictures.

To start at the beginning... we flew to Basel and boarded there and proceeded to Amsterdam over seven days. Visited various cities and castles on the way and enjoyed a classical concert/sung recital in Rastatt palace near Mannheim. We also had three nights with some entertainment on board - a violinist (from Ukraine, having been in Germany only 6 months) a singer and a trio - all the programs were familiar light classics, nothing too heavy to frighten people!

The last day on the lower Rhine was most interesting for its industry. Not pretty, but a reminder of the massive size of German industry - Bayer, Siemens, Thyseem-Krupp, BASF all with enormous waterfront lengths of active plant. Yes, and many, many, barges plying up and down with big loads of coal, oil and LPG. A bit like some of the UK was before our industry was wrecked and we started enjoying service industries instead.
The boat was largely filled with Canadians and Americans with only 8 Brits. This really surprised me, because on the previous cruise down the Danube with the same company, it was mainly people from the UK.

We went with Scenic cruises and have no complaints. The boat and accommodation were spotlessly clean and everything went like clockwork - including a built-in "limo" to and from our house. With excellent guides and crew to help us, plus as much food and booze and one could possibly want, all in the price the only downside is that I've put on a kilo or so. I expect 5:2 to sort that out in a week or three.

Next jaunt? Not sure, but I am vaguely thinking of the Rocky Mountaineer and a trip to Alaska.

Arb.

mc2fool
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Re: European River Cruises

#536971

Postby mc2fool » October 13th, 2022, 12:09 pm

Thanks for the report, Arb, much appreciated. ;) Will try and get my act together and do one of those ... sometime soon...ish... :D


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